Define Impossible
by RiannaBenden
Summary: Things that are impossible: Skiing through a revolving door, wrapping your hand around your elbow and making your fingers meet, and Captain Jack Harkness. Things that are not impossible: The Doctor eating a banana, running into a Dalek, and, apparently, crossing the Void. Sequel to One Love, One Lifetime.
1. Prologue: Clearing the Haze

**Hello! Thanks for checking out the sequel to my first story, ****One Love, One Lifetime. ****For those of you who haven't already done so, I strongly recommend that you read that first, as this will make so much more sense if you do.**

**This is going to be a bit different than the first one, with less pure fluff and more adventure, and will feature appearances by many beloved Whoverse characters, as well as a strong presence from the OC's introduced in OLOL. I'm really excited for this story, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I am going to enjoy writing it.**

**So, without further ado, I present to you the first chapter of ****Define Impossible!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I do not make any money off of this. It's just for fun.**

**Define Impossible**

Prologue: Clearing the Haze

Captain Jack Harkness tossed down the remainder of his drink and grimaced slightly as it burned his throat. _Man, that stuff's lousy, _he thought. For some reason, no matter where he went in the universe, no alien bar had ever managed to replicate whiskey properly. It seemed to be a human thing. He signaled the bartender and ordered something else, then scanned the other bar patrons, not sure whether he was looking for another employer or for… well, something a bit more fun.

Since he'd left Earth in the wake of the 456 catastrophe, Jack had spent the past ten years doing exactly what he was doing right now: wandering aimlessly through the galaxy, picking up odd jobs to keep himself fed, and then spending the rest of his time and money in bars of varying degrees of reputability. And in other people's beds. Well, he spent his time in other people's beds, at least, the day that Captain Jack Harkness needs to pay somebody for… anyway. He'd completely lost track of the number of jobs, bars, drinks and beds, and he rather liked it that way. Lately, it was easier to just let himself drift. Easier not to get close to anyone, which made it easier to keep himself from getting hurt.

The one time that stood out in the mind-numbing haze of alcohol and sex was that time on Zog, in one of the classier bars he'd been in for a while. He'd glanced up to see who that note was from, and nearly died of shock as he spotted that familiar brown trench coat. That last visit from the Doctor was burned into his mind in perfect detail, just like every other time he'd seen the Timelord, from the London Blitz to the end of the universe to the Dalek Crucible. No matter how hopeless he knew it to be, there would always be a small part of him that was in love with the Doctor.

Of course, that night was also memorable for other reasons. After all, Alonzo had known how to do things with his tongue that Jack happened to know were illegal in at least twelve star systems. Wouldn't have thought it looking at him, but… wow. Plus, maybe it was just a holdover from his soldier days, but he loved a man in uniform.

"Korellian Sunrise, please, and one for the broody fellow in the grey coat," someone said, breaking Jack out of his nostalgia. He glanced around, and found a very beautiful, bright red woman of some species he didn't recognize giving him an appreciative stare. Well, that was fine. He'd let just about anyone buy him a drink.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?" he introduced himself, flashing the woman his most charming smile. He noted, with a purely internal smirk, that even though she had initiated the flirting, her cheeks still flushed a slightly darker red. It was nice to know that he hadn't lost his touch.

"Aleria. Pleasure to meet you, Captain," she said, settling onto the barstool next to him.

"Pleasure's all mine, and please. Call me Jack. So, if you don't mind me asking, what's a lovely lady like yourself doing in this place?" he asked, waving a hand around at the rather dingy bar.

"Oh, just having a drink and chatting up handsome human strangers. Hoping to have a little fun tonight," Aleria replied, taking her drink from the bartender and sipping it delicately.

Jack, however, found himself frowning at her response. While her tone was light, her eyes had dropped when she mentioned "having a little fun tonight." Now, normally, he would have never asked questions, since he was not interested in getting close to people anymore, but something about this young woman was drawing him in, in a way he hadn't felt for a long time. So, despite the damaged part of him that was screaming for him to drop it, he decided try to get her to open up.

"You okay? You seem a little down," he added when she gave him an odd look.

She sighed, but her face was fixed with an ironic smile. "Even after everything you've been through, there's still something of the hero in you, isn't there, Captain Jack? It's no wonder that she…" she broke off as he stared at her, stunned.

"What the- Have you been reading my mind? Have we met before? Are we crossing someone's timeline?" Jack stammered, feeling an odd mixture of panic and a touch of anger sweep through him.

"Sorry," Aleria said, ducking her head shamefully. "We haven't met, and we're not crossing timelines. I'm afraid I was sort of in your head, it's really hard for my species to control it sometimes, and you don't have any shields up."

"I don't-" Jack cursed, suddenly aware of how much he'd let his psychic training lapse recently, and closed his eyes to firm up his shields a bit. "Better?" he asked.

She smiled. "Yes, actually. I can still hear you, but only if I concentrate. And while you're a very interesting man, I wouldn't violate your privacy like that."

"So, I'm interesting, then?" he asked, flashing her his trademark grin.

She grinned back at him, her pure white teeth making an interesting contrast with her ruby-red skin, and her equally red eyes sparkling. "Yes, you are. You're handsome and charming, you're dressed very unusually for this place, you don't seem even the slightest bit worried about being in this bar, which has a rather unsavory reputation, and you've got the strangest timelines I've ever seen in my life."

That last comment caused Jack to choke on his drink, and he stared at her. "What do you mean, strangest timelines?" He was starting to be more than a little bit suspicious of her, and shifted his weight so that his gun would be easier to reach.

Aleria held up both hands in a placating gesture. "Relax, Captain, I don't mean you any harm. My people are sensitive to time, that's all. I see the timelines of everyone I meet, whether I want to or not, actually. Yours are so different, and it's fascinating. I can't decide if you're giving me a headache, or if that's just the alcohol," she teased, flashing him a disarming smile, which he couldn't help but return. "I've done a lot of traveling, but I haven't ever met someone who had so much Time twisted up around him, coiling and stretching and snapping back into place like… like a bungee cord."

He chuckled. "I had another friend who told me something like that once, said I was a fixed point in time, a fact. He said it gave him a headache, too." He shifted in his seat, not really wanting to discuss his "condition" or the Doctor with this stranger, no matter how lovely she was, and changed the subject slightly. "So, if you can see the timelines, can you tell me what's going to happen tonight?" he asked, giving her his most seductive smile, the one that had been known to cause both men and women from all corners of the universe to swoon at his feet.

She laughed outright at that. "Well, some things, I suppose, but time is always in flux. Some things are fixed, some things aren't. I can tell you that that hideously disgusting Altuvian over there is either going to meet his lifemate or get black-out drunk and end up passed out on the floor with his pockets emptied, and that the bartender is going to drop a glass in about, oh, five seconds." She paused, and counted them off, then grinned as the sound of breaking glass reached their ears. He chuckled, a bit impressed in spite of himself, and she kept going. "I can tell you that the Grand Minister of Beljaro is going to decide to run for a second term, that the redhead in the corner is about to leave, and that you are going to invite me back to your room and I'm going to say yes. Oh, and that I'm going to die," she added flippantly, and Jack stared.

"Hey, what makes you think that?" he blurted out before he could censure himself. Man, but this woman was really getting under his skin. He could feel his self-imposed fog of apathy beginning to lift of its own volition with every word she spoke.

Aleria shrugged, as though trying to deny the pain of her own admission, and Jack's heart ached for her. "Because I can see it coming in my timeline. Tonight is the night I die. That's why I was so determined to have a little fun tonight."

"Well, you just stick with me, and I guarantee I won't let anything happen to you," he found himself saying, before he even had the chance to think about it.

She smiled sadly. "That's awfully sweet of you Jack, and I appreciate it, really. But there's nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid. It's a fixed point. It's impossible to get around."

"Yeah, well, I'm an impossible sort of guy," he said with another one of his trademark grins. "How about you let me buy you a drink, just so we're even, and we'll have no more of this depressing death talk, huh? Let's just see where tonight takes us."

Aleria grinned back at him. "That sounds like a good plan. So then, Captain Jack Harkness, tell me a little about yourself."

They sat at the bar for a couple of hours, chatting and buying each other drinks, and Jack quickly found himself opening up to this strange woman, more so than he'd opened up to anyone in the past ten years. He told her all sorts of things as the night went on, and she was just as forthcoming about her own life. He learned that most of her species had been destroyed in the Time War, exterminated by the Daleks, and that only a few children, like her, had made it off the world in small, single-occupancy ships that had scattered throughout the universe. Only once had Aleria met another of her kind, and the only things she knew about her people, she had learned from the artificial intelligence within her ship. Together, they commiserated on the difficulties of their lives, and she offered him a level of sympathy and compassion that he hadn't seen since Ianto died.

"Well, you were right about one thing," he said finally, as the bartender announced last call.

"What's that?" Aleria asked, amused.

"I am going to invite you back to my room tonight. So, what do you say?"

She grinned. "I already told you I was going to say yes, Jack. So, feel like getting out of here?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he chuckled, and rose to his feet, offering her a hand with a gentlemanly bow. She giggled and took it, rising with remarkable grace for a woman who'd just spent the last two hours matching him drink for drink. He quickly tossed a few coins on the bar to cover their last round, tucked her hand into his elbow and led her out of the bar.

The mediocre hotel where he was staying wasn't far, so they decided to walk the short distance, getting a little fresh air, since the public transportation systems in this city were infamous for being disgusting and unreliable. They chattered about random things as they walked, and Jack tried not to be too obvious about the way he was checking her out. When she did catch him at it, he quickly tried to cover it by complimenting her flowing black and gold robes, (which were lovely, and he had noticed them, to be fair) but she gave him a look that had him stammering, and he finally just told her how sexy she looked.

They were only one block away from his hotel, on a poorly-lit corner, when a pair of Tirraquans suddenly leapt out of the shadows and jumped them both. Jack had no time to grab his gun, and was forced to resort to his bare hands. He became a flurry of activity, trading blows with the thugs with an ease born of several lifetimes worth of practice, and had just managed to knock one of them unconscious when Aleria suddenly cried out.

He spun on his heels to face her, and felt all of the blood drain from his face when he realized that while he'd been busy with the first thug, the other had managed to stab Aleria with a long, wicked-looking knife. Before he realized what he was doing, Jack had his gun out and fired, putting a bullet directly between the Tirraquan's eyes. The man crumpled to the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut, and Jack quickly holstered his gun so that he could catch Aleria as she collapsed.

Much to his dismay, he quickly determined that even if there was such a thing as a decent hospital on this god-forsaken planet, there wouldn't be anything they could do for her. She was dying, just like she had said she would. Just like he had promised her she wouldn't.

"I'm sorry," he choked out, cradling her gently in his arms. "I didn't see his knife soon enough. I should have been paying more attention." He inwardly cursed himself. Why did so many people have to die in his arms?

"It's okay, Jack," Aleria gasped. "I saw this, remember? I knew it was coming. It's not your fault, it was a fixed point in time."

"But I told you I'd protect you," he objected, fighting down tears.

"You did something even better, Jack. You gave me a friend, so that I didn't have to be alone here."

For once, Jack had no words, so instead, he leaned down and kissed her gently. When he broke away, she smiled. A moment later, her eyes widened, and she gasped. With a last burst of strength, she reached up and seized his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"Listen to me, Captain. I just saw…I have to warn you." She broke off, coughing weakly, then managed to get her voice back again. "She is coming, the child of Wolf and Storm, coming from so far… She will burn, burn from within and rise from the ashes like the Phoenix. She will rise from rage and despair to bring hope and light and joy, and she- will bring- the Firestorm…" Aleria struggled to force out her final words, and breathed her last, her open, glassy eyes still staring into Jack's.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her to his chest, his tears streaming down his face and shock at her last words reverberating through his skull. His mind whirled even as he mourned the loss of this woman he barely knew. Why had she felt the need to tell him this? What could it possibly mean? Wolf and Storm… Could that possibly mean what he thought it did? But how?

One thing was for sure, he couldn't keep this to himself. There was someone he needed to contact right away, just as soon as he took care of Aleria. He gently closed her eyes, then stood, lifting her in his arms. He'd take her back to where she'd told him her ship was, and see if he couldn't research the burial customs of her people so that he could give her a proper goodbye.

And then, he had a Timelord to find.

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**Thank you for reading, and please review! Reviews feed the muse, and a well-fed muse lets me write faster!**


	2. Chapter 1: Everything Changes

**I would like to take this moment to say… Writer's block sucks.**

**Special thanks to all of you who have already followed, favorite, and reviewed this story. **

**On that note, here's Chapter One. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I do not make any money off of this. It's just for fun.**

Chapter One: Everything Changes

"Oh, come on, Dad, please? I promise I'll be careful, you know I will. Mum says I'm already a better driver than you." Emma looked up at her father, giving him her best puppy eyes. She might not be as good at them as her little sister, but they still worked pretty well on her father most of the time.

However, they didn't seem to be working this time.

"No, Emma, you are not borrowing the TARDIS. I am not sending my frankly magnificent timeship off into Time and Space in the sole hands of my teenage daughter. And you are not a better driver than I am. I've been flying a TARDIS for centuries, and you are sixteen." The Doctor frowned at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dad, and you failed your driver's test, remember? Come on, I just want to go-"

"Emma, I said no," he interrupted her, and she pouted slightly.

"Fine. But when are you going to let me take the TARDIS by myself? How old do I have to be?"

She watched as her father's eyes closed and he looked up, as though asking for patience. "When you're 103."

"Daaaad," she groaned. "We don't even know if I'm going to live to be 103. Two hearts or not, I might just live a normal human life, in which case I need to live it to the fullest, and not put things off, right?" she asked, a sly smile creeping onto her face.

"Stop it, Emma," her dad said, fixing her with his familiar that's-the-end-of-it glare, and she gave up. "Now, would you do me a favor and look in on your brother? He's still having trouble with that sonic screwdriver he's trying to build, and your mother's worried he'll blow up the house."

Emma rolled her eyes again. "Mick'll be fine, I built my sonic pen when I was twelve, and I didn't blow anything up."

The Doctor grinned. "No, you didn't, but you aren't as inclined to get bored halfway through a project and wander off. If he'd just sit still and finish the thing, he'd be fine, but he keeps letting himself get distracted."

"Like you did with dinner the other night?" Emma asked, smirking.

"Oi! None of that. Go check on Mick. I'd do it myself, but I have to finish calibrating this," he said gesturing at the underside of the TARDIS console they were both staring up at, "and your mother seems to think he's been left alone with that too long already."

"Fine, I'll go," Emma sighed, and hauled herself out from under the TARDIS console.

"Thank you," her dad replied, and then stuck his sonic between his teeth, his attention turning back to the delicate calibration work that Emma had interrupted. On the last family trip, they had hit a small pocket of interstellar "stuff" that the TARDIS had not liked, and it had thrown off the ship's navigational sensors. It had taken three tries to get the TARDIS back to the correct time and place, even with Emma and the Doctor working together. She'd been helping her dad with the repairs to some extent, but this bit was something of a one person job.

Emma patted the console affectionately, then headed out the doors and upstairs to her brother's room. She knocked on the half-open door and stuck her head in.

"Hey, Mick, Dad wanted me to see how you're doing with your- Gah! What are you doing? Don't-"

Quickly realizing it was too late to warn her brother about the colossal mistake he was about to make in the construction of his sonic, Emma whipped out her own and zapped the crucial parts from across the room, robbing them of the charge that had been about to explode. While it probably wasn't enough to blow up the house, it certainly would have scorched the walls of her little brother's bedroom. And probably burned off his eyebrows.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" Mick asked, incensed. He spun his chair around to face her, glaring. "I was just about to-"

"Blow up your room?" Emma asked pointedly. "Look at your specs again, little ape. If you'd actually connected those circuits, it would have burned your eyebrows off at the very least."

"I'm not an ape!" he complained, apparently ignoring the rest of her comment.

"Then how did you manage to make such a stupid mistake?"

"I know what I'm doing!"

Emma rolled her eyes, and stalked across Mick's room to show him exactly what he'd been doing wrong. "See?" she said, pointing to the relevant bits. "That's where you went wrong."

Mick ducked his head, embarrassed. "Right," he mumbled, not meeting Emma's eyes. "Thanks, sis," he added, a bit grudgingly.

"No problem. Though, now I get why Mum wanted someone to check on you, and why Dad sent me up here rather than just checking in with you," Emma said, wiggling her fingers near her brother's temple in a gesture that meant "telepathy" to the entire family.

He swatted her hand away. "Yeah, fine, we've established that I'm incompetent," he grumbled. "Want to help me, then?"

Emma glared at her brother. "You're not incompetent, Mick," she said firmly.

"Then why can't I get this thing right?" he growled, glaring at the pile of tech on his desk as though it had personally offended him. "You built yours in one afternoon, and I've been working on this for days and I still can't get it."

"That's because you keep letting yourself get distracted. If you'd just focus, and use that big Timelord brain of yours, you'd be done," she replied, flopping down onto Mick's bed.

"You sound like Mum," Mick grumbled as he turned back to his project.

Emma smirked, and was opening her mouth to retort when they both heard the front door open and close. "Mum and Sarah must be back," Mick observed.

"Yeah, and we better get downstairs. She said she was going to swing by Tesco's on the way back from Sarah's gymnastics class, which means she's probably about to call us down to help carry things." Emma bounced off Mick's bed and headed for the door, then stopped and turned back. "On second thought, I'll do it, you get that thing stabilized so it doesn't blow up before you get back to it."

Mick stuck his tongue out at her, but bent over his desk again, and Emma chuckled as she left his room and headed downstairs. True to her predictions, she'd no sooner reached the ground floor when she felt her mother touch her mind.

"Right here, Mum," she said, walking into the kitchen.

Her mother smiled in greeting as she lifted her head out of the fridge, where she'd been putting the milk away.

"Emma, love, could you run out to the car and get the rest of the groceries? I need to start dinner," Rose requested.

"Sure. Where's the squirt?"

"Oh, she ran downstairs to the TARDIS. She wanted to show your Dad what she learned in gymnastics class today."

"Well, I hope he can take a minute and watch, when I was down there a minute ago he was engrossed in some pretty delicate repair work."

Emma winced internally as her mother gave her a knowing look. "And you chose that moment to ask him about borrowing the TARDIS, didn't you?" Rose asked, fixing her with a stern look. "You were hoping to catch him off-guard and distracted, so that he'd agree out of habit. Isn't that right, Emma?"

This time, Emma's wince was not internal. "Well, can't blame a girl for trying. And it's not like I want to cross Timelines or anything like that, I just want to be able to go somewhere on my own every once in a while. Can't you-"

"No," Rose interrupted her. "No, if your father doesn't think you're ready to take the TARDIS out by yourself, then I defer to his judgment on the matter. He knows a lot more about that than I do, obviously, and I'd have to be mental to argue with him. Now, would you please go get the rest of the groceries out of the car?"

Emma sighed. "Worth a try," she muttered under her breath. "Will do," she said in a louder voice, and turned on her heel to head for the door. She hadn't really expected that to work, since her parents tended to be a united front on just about everything, but she'd figured it was worth a shot. Now, she'd been effectively denied by both parents, and so she was stuck.

It wasn't like she disliked Earth, quite the contrary. It was just that she never seemed to fit in here, no matter what she did. At school, she didn't fit in with the athletes she met through figure skating because she was so much smarter than they were (and that wasn't conceit, that was fact), but she couldn't make friends with the more academic types either, partly because of her status as an athlete, and partly because she was cleverer than all of them, too. Occupational hazard of being part Timelord, and having the intelligence that went along with it. Having the last name "Tyler" didn't help either. Her parents were figures of national importance (not that you could tell that by hanging around their house), and that made her a target for every gossip rag in the country. Add to that the fact that she had to lie about her very species to everyone she met who wasn't family, and it made it very difficult to get close to anyone. Though, for some reason, Mick and Sarah didn't seem to have that much trouble with it.

It all added up to making her extremely frustrated with planet Earth sometimes. It gave her an incredible urge to run, as fast and as far from the planet of her birth as the TARDIS could carry her, which was pretty extremely far. The only times she's ever had a reasonable conversation with someone who wasn't related to her was when she'd met people in the future, people who at least understood some of the basics of quantum physics and temporal mechanics. Then, she didn't have to lie about her species, because that far in the future, nobody cared if you weren't fully human. Plus, nobody had any idea who she was, so no one was taking embarrassing pictures of her for the gossip rags.

Emma shook herself, realizing that she'd been staring at the car door, lost in thought, for almost a minute without moving. She snorted softly, and opened the door to bring in the groceries. Fuming about the situation didn't help anything. The only thing that helped was hitting the ice, so she'd just have to head down to the rink in the TARDIS after dinner. She needed to work on her routine for the next competition anyway.

0-0-0-0-0

An hour later, the five of them were seated around the dinner table, finishing up the evening meal and laughing at something little Sarah had just said. Rose got up from the table a minute later to go bring in dessert, and Emma was suddenly struck with an unusual wave of contentment. Just at this exact moment, her struggles at school and everywhere else seemed so far away, and all that mattered was her family. It was all so comfortingly _normal, _teasing her little brother, laughing at her baby sister's antics, bantering happily with her parents, and she felt some of the tension draining away from her. She decided that maybe hitting the ice wasn't the only thing that made her feel better.

The relaxed family evening shattered a moment later when her Dad's mobile began to chime the silly, annoying ringtone that meant Torchwood was calling. Instantly, the atmosphere sobered as the Doctor got to his feet and pulled the phone out of his pocket to answer it.

"Doctor Tyler," he stated into the phone as he walked away from the table. Emma watched him go with a sigh, and was startled a few seconds later as her mother's mobile went off as well.

_Oh, that's never a good sign, _Emma thought. If Torchwood was calling both of her parents on a Saturday evening, it could only mean that something was up.

"Agent Tyler," Rose answered as she followed her husband into the sitting room, and the three kids sat awkwardly around the dinner table, waiting for them to come back. Emma toyed with the remains of her dessert, no longer having even the slightest appetite for it. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Mick broke the silence.

"What d'you think's wrong?" he asked, his voice far more subdued than usual.

Emma sighed. "Don't know, Mick, but it's got to be big for Torchwood to call them both like this."

"Is Earth gonna be invaded again?" Sarah asked in a small voice, sounding like the little girl she was for the first time that evening.

"I doubt it, there's usually some kind of warning before an invasion starts, they don't just show up out of nowhere," Mick replied, his tone of voice belying the confidence of his words.

"Maybe this is the warning," Emma suggested quietly. "Maybe they detected something coming towards us, and so now they're calling in the experts before-" She broke off, noticing the scared look on her sister's face. She got up from the table and walked around, wrapping her arms around Sarah's shoulders. Sarah turned and clung to her, and Emma did her best to soothe her sister.

"Hey, it's gonna be alright. We don't know anything right now, it could all be a wild goose chase or something. And even if it is an alien invasion, Mum and Dad will sort it, you know they will. They always do, don't they?" she asked, pulling away and meeting her sister's eyes.

Sarah glanced down. "Yes," she said softly.

"Well then, nothing to worry about, right?" Emma smiled at her sister, firmly pushing aside her own fears. No matter what the situation happened to be, panicking was not going to help anyone.

As she got to her feet again, both of her parents reentered the room, wearing uncharacteristically serious expressions. Emma felt her hearts jump into her throat.

"What is it?" she heard Mick asking, and felt a brief surge of gratitude towards her brother for asking the question she couldn't voice just then.

Their parents looked at each other, then the Doctor sighed. "Torchwood just detected an enormous and very heavily armed spaceship in synchronous orbit above Ireland. No one's seen anything like it, and even I don't recognize the description they gave me just now. It also seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Whoever's on that ship sent a message to Torchwood that even my new translation software can't make head nor tails of, so your mother and I are going in. Hopefully the TARDIS translation matrix can crack this, so that we can figure out what they want from us, and hopefully avoid a fight."

"Right then, you three, you know how this works. You stay in the house and stay out of trouble. Emma, you're in charge." It was a mark of how serious the situation seemed to be that Mick didn't even offer a token protest at their mother's words. "Lock yourselves in the TARDIS right away if we tell you to, if you see something fishy yourselves, or if you don't hear from us by your bedtime. And if you see something yourselves, you let us know right away. Got it?" Rose fixed the three of them with a look that allowed no argument, and they nodded.

"Yes, Mum," they chorused seriously. There was a split second's pause, and then the five of them were locked tightly in a group hug, without Emma having any memory of conscious movement. They all reached for each other's minds at the same moment, and clung tightly to each other both physically and psychically, taking comfort from the telepathic link.

When they finally broke apart, it was with great reluctance, and little Sarah promptly attached herself to Emma's waist. Emma in turn wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders, and met her Dad's eyes, her expression serious.

"Be careful, please," she said softly. "Both of you."

"We will, Emma, don't worry. We'll be back before you know it. Well, that's a bit erroneous, you'll know it of course, so we'll be back… pronto. Oh, no, I hate that. ASAP. In a flash. Ooh, I like that one. In a flash! We'll be back in a flash, you three, so behave," the Doctor rambled, coaxing a few giggles out of his children, which, judging by the look on his face, had been his intent.

"Oh, and Emma?"

"Yes, Mum?"

"Call Tony and check on him, if you would? Just tell him what we told you, and ask him to stay indoors."

"Will do," Emma assured her mother, and with that, and a last mental caress, her parents left the house to head for Torchwood.

0-0-0-0-0

It was nearly two hours later when Emma began to sense that something was not right. Her time senses weren't nearly as strong as a full Timelord's would have been, nor was she particularly skilled in using them yet, but it didn't take much control to be able to tell that something was happening nearby, something not good. She walked quickly to the front room and peered out the window at the street, then up at the sky, and what she saw made her hearts skip a beat, and she felt herself going pale.

The sky was covered in alien aircraft, each about twenty feet long, and shaped, oddly enough, rather like butterflies, though clearly far more deadly. She could see the enormous weapon mounts from here, even though the nearest ones seemed to be a couple of streets over. Worst of all, however, was that each one of them had a stream of armed aliens pouring out of them, and sliding down lead ropes to the ground. There were too far away for her to even begin to guess what species they were, especially in the dark, but it was quite clear that they were not friendly. Closer movement caught her eye, and she noticed little Kristi Bennett, the youngest daughter of one of the families down the street, wandering up the road. She must have slipped outside while her parents weren't watching, and now she was clearly in danger.

Emma swore, loudly and creatively in every language she knew, finishing off in Gallifreyan. She whirled around to find Sarah and Mick staring at her, eyes wide.

"Ooh, I'm gonna tell Mum that you were swearing," Sarah said happily, then her eyes grew wide as she took in Emma's frightened face. "What?"

"Get down to the TARDIS. Now," Emma snapped, and was instantly gratified when Mick promptly seized Sarah's hand and began pulling her toward the basement stairs. She herself wrenched open the front door and raced into the street after little Kristi, intent on getting the little girl back to her parents. It only took a second for Mick to realize that she wasn't behind him, and she felt him reaching out for her mind.

_"What are you doing? You've got to get down here too," _he called.

_"I'm right behind you, don't worry about me. Tell Mum and Dad there are aliens in the streets," _she replied, trying to sound as calm as she could. She raced up to Kristi and scooped the little girl up in her arms and took off down the street to number 17, where her parents lived, knowing they must be frantic with worry for her. Meanwhile, Kristi wailed and complained, kicking and screaming loud enough to wake the dead, forcing Emma to waste precious moments trying to calm her down. When it became clear that the kid was not going to be quiet, Emma reached up and placed a hand on her temple, shutting her down into a light sleep. It wouldn't last long, and it wouldn't hurt her in the slightest, but it would give Emma a chance to get her back to her family and then down to the TARDIS with Mick and Sarah.

She raced up the Bennett's drive and rang their doorbell, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other and clutching Kristi tightly. She didn't have long to wait though, and was soon able to push the sleeping girl at her frantic and grateful parents. Emma didn't stay long enough to listen to their gratitude, though, just took off back down the street, running as fast as her long legs would carry her, her entire mind focused on getting back to the safety of the TARDIS.

She wasn't quite fast enough. As she neared the house, a squadron of strange, insect-like aliens marched around the corner, firing nasty-looking particle weapons at even the smallest shadows. They spotted Emma quickly, and three of them fired at her before she even had time to blink.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the energy beams from the alien weapons flew down the street towards her, and she felt as though every beat of her frantically pounding hearts was taking an eternity. Panic swelled up within her, and she felt a strange sensation in her head, a kind of pressure, and then suddenly something snapped.

A flash of pure gold lit the street without warning, and filled her vision. She felt as though she were _pulling,_ hard, at something unseen, and a sense of pure, undiluted power rushed over her, filling her with a tingling from head to toe. Emma then felt an odd sense of tug-of-war, though what her mind was fighting, she had no idea. Whatever it was, it gave quickly, and the golden light faded once it had. She caught a brief glimpse of some sort of copper metal, and got an impression of startled faces, and then everything went black.

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	3. Chapter 2: Question Marks

**Yes, I know, I am the spawn of Satan for being so late with this. My computer had to spend a week with the Geek Squad, and I had a conference, and I had to move. Anyway, enough excuses. I apologize for any grammar errors, I was editing this in the middle of the night.**

**Thanks to all of you who have read, followed, favorited or reviewed this story, I really appreciate it. Enjoy!**

Chapter Two: Question Marks

Captain Jack Harkness walked into yet another bar and sat down in a corner, rubbing a hand over his face in frustration. He quickly entered an order into the electronic system on the table and sat back, fuming.

It had been nearly a year since Aleria's death, and he was no closer to finding the Doctor than he had been when he started. Everywhere he went, everywhere he looked, and in every database he'd managed to get into, there was absolutely no sign of the elusive Timelord. He had expected it to be difficult to find him, but he hadn't thought it would be this bad. Even during his years stranded on Earth, working for Torchwood and waiting, there had at least been signs of him, glimpses of past regenerations, reports of a blue Police Box in odd places, and rumors and files. Now, it was almost like the Doctor had been… deleted out of every record in the universe. Jack hadn't made it back to Earth to look there yet, as he'd been hoping he wouldn't have to, but now it was starting to look like he didn't have a choice. He might even have to look up Martha, and see if she still had a way of contacting the Doctor. He sighed. Much as he loved Martha, he really didn't want to dig up all of the emotional baggage that would inevitably come up if he spoke to her again.

He was shaken out of his introspection when a handsome, middle-aged woman with absurdly curly hair strode into the bar and stood in front his table. He glanced up at her, and was just opening his mouth to ask what the hell she wanted when she cut him off.

"So, I understand you've been looking for the Doctor," she said, her low voice tense with suspicion. "So, who are you, and what do you want with him?" Her right hand rested on a familiar sort of blaster (Villengard, maybe?) that was strapped to her right hip, and she looked rather like she'd enjoy nothing more than shooting him with it.

He met her eyes squarely. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and I'm an old friend of the Doctor's. I need his help with something. Now, who are you, and why is it that you're interrogating me?"

The strange woman blinked. "You're Jack Harkness?" she asked, sounding much less suspicious and more than a little bit surprised.

His eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"I see." She paused, apparently thinking something over. "Well, if you are Jack Harkness, then tell me where you met the Doctor," she demanded, as though she were testing him.

"On Earth, during the London Blitz," Jack replied shortly. "Now I'll ask you again. Who are you, and why are you interrogating me?"

The woman sighed, and some of the tension drained out of her. She sat down opposite him and leaned back in her chair in a deceptively relaxed posture. He wasn't fooled, if he showed even the slightest sign that he was going to try something, she'd shoot him through the heart in an instant.

"My name is River Song," she told him. "I'm… a friend of the Doctor's as well, and I heard that someone was trying to find him, so, I figured I'd better look into it. He's got more than a few enemies, as I'm sure you know."

"Yeah, that's him. So, why are you so worried about someone looking for him? People do that all the time."

"Not anymore. A little while ago, he decided he'd gotten too visible, that people were noticing him too much. So, he decided to fake his own death, and he's been going around deleting himself from every database he comes across ever since. It won't work for long, but for now he's become a bit more… anonymous."

Jack snorted. "The Doctor? Anonymous? I find that a bit hard to believe. Sure, he never stays in one place for long, but he always makes a big impression."

The mysterious "River" smirked. "And that's why it won't work for long." She paused, and gave him a measuring look. "So, why are you trying to find him?"

Jack sighed. He had no desire to tell this strange woman about Aleria and what she'd said to him, but he was getting the idea that she might be able to help him find the Doctor, if he could convince her, gain her trust. He supposed that flirting with her wouldn't hurt either, and it wasn't like that would really be a hardship. He could already tell that she was a remarkable woman. She'd have to be, to be as close to the Doctor as she seemed to be.

"I met someone from a race that can read the timelines, like he can, only… She seemed awfully precise, whereas he never was. She saw a lot of specifics that I'm really quite sure he couldn't have predicted with nearly that much accuracy." He stopped and took a breath, aware that he was rambling. "Anyway, she saw something, just before she died, and felt the urge to warn me, and trust me when I say that the Doctor needs to know about this. So, you wouldn't happen to know how to get in touch with him, would you, Miss Song?" he asked, flashing her his most charming grin.

She responded with what seemed to be her trademark smirk. "It's Doctor Song, actually," she said smoothly. "And there's no point in trying your tricks on me, Captain. Not only am I married, but I've been warned about you."

"Oh-ho," Jack said with a chuckle. "Warned about me? I think I'm flattered." He grinned at her again. "Who's the lucky guy, then?" he asked, still hoping to charm her into telling him how to contact the Doctor.

She chuckled, her voice low. "The best man I've ever known," she replied, and he carefully noted the soft, almost distant look in her eyes when she said that. Well, that meant that she wasn't lying about being married, though that hadn't been likely, and made it a point for her credibility.

"I'm sure he is," Jack replied. "Well, Doctor Song, you still haven't told me if you can help me. Do you know how to get ahold of him?"

"Yes," she said, her voice smooth and nearly devoid of expression again. She was watching him closely, and he still felt distinctly like he was being measured.

"That's good. Are you going to share that information, or am I wasting my time here?" he asked bluntly.

She leveled that measuring stare at him a little while longer. Just when he was starting to feel twitchy, she sighed and nodded. "If you really are Captain Jack Harkness, then it won't do any harm, he's always spoken highly of you. And if it turns out you aren't… well… let's just say I won't give you a chance to try anything." Her look became a bit more intimidating, and he found himself thinking that he _really_ didn't want to get in a fight with this woman. Ever. He might be immortal, but he still didn't want to tangle with her.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, and then blinked as something she'd said finally sunk in. "Wait, he speaks highly of me? The Doctor?" he asked, more than a bit surprised.

River smiled, the first genuine smile he'd seen from her, rather than the smirks he'd been getting the entire conversation. "Yes, he does," she said, almost gently, as though she knew how much that meant to him. Maybe she did.

He allowed himself a very brief moment to savor that bit of praise, second-hand as is was, before dragging himself back to business. "So then, how do I get in touch with him?"

River's smirk was back in an instant. "Like this," she said, and pulled up the sleeve on her left arm, revealing a Vortex Manipulator not unlike his. Her smirk became a slightly superior chuckle as she took in his raised eyebrows, then she began typing away. A moment later, she smiled and pulled her sleeve back down, then stood up. "Come with me, Captain. I sent him a message asking him to meet me, and sent him coordinates. He should be there any minute, and we should be there before he arrives."

Jack's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair. She sent one little message, and she expected the Doctor to drop everything and come running? He had to admit he was impressed. Just who exactly was this woman, anyway?

She chuckled as she led him out of the bar and across the street, sitting down on a park bench, her posture perfectly relaxed, the very picture of confidence. A moment later, the reason for her confidence became apparent, as the tell-tale wheezing sound that heralded the TARDIS's approach reached Jack's ears.

The beautiful blue Police Box finished materializing before his eyes, and the door opened to reveal an unfamiliar man. He was fairly tall, though not as tall as either of the Doctors Jack knew, and lanky, with floppy dark hair and bright green eyes, wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie. The man stepped out, locked eyes with River, and smirked cockily, spreading his arms wide.

"You rang?" he asked, and River's grin widened.

"Hello, Sweetie."

0-0-0-0-0

"Well, that was different. The Shakri, always thought they were a myth, but obviously not, given that they just tried to annihilate the human race. Now then. Where shall we be off to next, eh Ponds?" the Doctor asked, while flailing gracelessly around the TARDIS console. "Someplace new, I think. Have I ever taken you two to the diamond coral reefs of Kaata Flo Ko? Or how about the crystal waterfalls of Kelaria Prime? Or maybe you're in the mood for a tropical pleasure planet, been a while since we did that. We could go to Risa." He paused finally and looked to Amy and Rory. "Well, what do you think?"

"Wait, there's actually a planet called Risa? I thought that was a Star Trek thing," Rory asked incredulously.

"Well, Rory, it is. But in the twenty-fifth century, humans discover a lovely little planet, tropical paradise, and the explorers who found it decided to name it Risa, since they were all fans of the old franchise. After the planet was colonized, it mostly became a tourist destination, full of resorts and beaches and fun stuff like that, since it was rather lacking in mineral resources and things. So, how'd you like to take a look?" the Doctor asked, looking from one of them to the other with a smile on his face that made him look like the cat who'd just eaten the canary.

Amy gave him a look, one eyebrow raised. "Tropical paradise, Doctor? I seem to recall that you still owe us a trip to Rio. I think you should take us there, don't you?"

Since Amy could clearly see his face from where she stood, Rory resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and refrained from pointing out that the long-promised trip to Rio seemed to be cursed. Every time the Doctor tried to take them there, they ended up someplace else entirely, running for their lives. However, since he placed a rather high value on his life, he elected to agree with his wife.

"She's right, Doctor, we've never actually managed to get to Rio, and I would still like to see it," Rory said, placing a hand on Amy's shoulder.

The Doctor grumbled and pouted like a kid being told he had to do his homework before he could go play. "Oh, alright, if you insist. Rio it is, then," he announced, the enthusiasm returning to his voice. However, just as he went to enter the coordinates, the TARDIS monitor beeped insistently. The Doctor bounced over to have a look, then grinned like the Cheshire cat at the message on the screen.

"Sorry, Amy, but Rio's going to have to wait," he said, flying about to enter a different set of coordinates.

"Again?" Amy complained, holding to the TARDIS' railing with an ease born of long practice. "What is it this time?"

As the TARDIS landed, the Doctor took a second to adjust his bowtie and check his hair in the mirror. He turned back to the Ponds and flashed them his biggest grin. "I've got a date," he said smugly, and scampered to the TARDIS doors, pulling them open with a flourish.

Amy and Rory looked at each other, trying not to laugh. "River," they said together, and headed for the doors in the Doctor's wake.

0-0-0-0-0

Jack was more than a bit startled to see this lanky, bowtie-wearing man stepping out of the TARDIS. Judging by River's response to him, Jack guessed that he was the Doctor, and even though he'd known it was possible that the Doctor could have a new face, it was still a bit jarring. Jack kept watching him, and so he saw the exact moment that the Doctor noticed him.

"Captain Jack Harkness, good to see you again," the Doctor said, smiling slightly in his direction.

"Doctor," Jack acknowledged him with a salute, making the Doctor roll his eyes. "Good to see you, too. You're a difficult man to find."

"Oh, were you looking for me? Sorry, been a bit… busy, I suppose. But never mind that," the Doctor said, darting up to him suddenly and fluttering his hands about as though he didn't quite know what to do with them. "How have you been?"

Jack chuckled. "Not bad, and yourself?"

The Doctor smiled, and began to respond, but was interrupted by a gorgeous redheaded woman sauntering out of the TARDIS hand in hand with a rather handsome young man. They both smiled at River, but stopped short when they noticed Jack.

"So, River, who's your friend?" the woman asked, looking at Jack with interest.

Before River could even open her mouth, however, the Doctor cut in. "Oh, yes, right, you lot haven't actually met. Amy, Rory, meet Captain Jack Harkness. He's an old friend. Captain, Amy and Rory Pond."

Jack noticed Rory rolling his eyes, and saw him mutter something under his breath only to get the redhead's elbow in his ribs. Judging by the young man's wince, she didn't take it easy on him. Amy sauntered forward and held out a hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Captain," she said with a smile and a thick Scottish accent. In return, he flashed his signature grin and took her hand to place a small kiss on her knuckles.

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine," he replied, and mentally began counting down the seconds. _3…2…1…_

"No, no, none of that," the Doctor interjected, somehow managing to sound irritated, amused and embarrassed all at the same time. Jack's grin widened. _"Well, he hasn't changed that much," _he thought. He reluctantly put Amy's hand down and turned to the Doctor.

"You haven't changed, apparently I still can't say hello to anyone," he commented with a smirk.

The Doctor scowled. "Shut up, Jack, she's married. To him," the Doctor said, gesturing wildly at the other man, who was giving Jack a look that was the same among males across the universe. It translated loosely to "Hands off, she's mine."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You're traveling with a married couple? Isn't that a bit domestic for you?"

He heard a smothered choking noise from off to the side, and found both Amy and Rory trying not to laugh, while River was wearing that trademark smirk again. He glanced back to the Doctor, and saw something incredible. The Doctor was actually _blushing. _Bright red, as red as Amy's hair, and he was fluttering his hands about in what appeared to be a habitual nervous tic, and plainly refusing to meet anyone's eye. Jack's confusion deepened.

"Am I missing something, here?" he asked, looking from one of them to the other.

"Yeah, I think you are," Rory replied, his voice sounding choked, when it became apparent that no one else was going to respond to Jack.

"Alright, Doc, out with it. And while we're on the subject, why did River call you 'sweetie?'"

It didn't seem possible, but the Doctor's blush darkened a shade further, and River's smirk widened. As Jack looked between the two of them, suddenly something clicked.

"Wait, you've got to be kidding me," he began, his eyes widening in surprise, but the Doctor cut him off abruptly.

"Anyway, never mind all that… River! Your message sounded important. What sort of trouble have you got for me this time? Since Jack's here, I'm guessing that it had something to do with him, right Jack? And you said you'd been looking for me, so there must be something going on. Come along then, Ponds, River, Captain, into the TARDIS, things to do." The Doctor babbled on as he began trying to usher them all into the TARDIS, but Amy rolled her eyes dramatically and turned to Jack.

"What he's trying to avoid telling you is that River is his wife," she explained in a long-suffering voice.

Jack whistled. "Good for you, Doc, have to say I'm impressed. And you, Doctor Song, very impressive. And here I thought Rose was the only one who could crack that shell," he muttered quietly, though apparently not quietly enough, as they all heard him.

River stiffened slightly, and Amy and Rory stared at him blankly. "Who's Rose?" Rory asked after a beat.

"Rose, ah, well, former companion of mine, long time ago," the Doctor rambled. "Anyway, things to do, right? Come on, Jack, what's so important that you needed to come looking for me?"

Jack sighed. This new Doctor was just as good at deflection tactics as the other two he'd known. He decided to let it go for the moment, since he really did need to warn the Doctor about Aleria's last vision. "Why don't we go inside? This might take a while to explain," he suggested, gesturing at the TARDIS.

The Doctor turned and snapped his fingers with a flourish, and the doors popped open.

"That's new," Jack commented, blinking in surprise. Then he shook himself and followed the Doctor and his friends (and wife... now that was bizarre) into the ship.

He stopped short just inside the doors, staring at the console room, which looked absolutely nothing like he remembered. Gone were the winding coral struts and the almost organic feel that he remembered, replaced with bright copper metal and a flashy, raised platform with stairs leading up to it. Instead of the metal grating on the floors, the console platform was clear glass, and not even the Time Rotor looked the same. It was as though it was a completely different ship.

"So, I see you redecorated in more ways than one, Doc," he commented, trying to sound nonchalant. "I like it."

The Doctor beamed. "Yes, she decided it was time for a change, right about when I regenerated. So. Kitchen, then? Captain Jack can tell his story over a nice cup of tea, how's that sound?"

Without waiting for anyone to reply, the Doctor turned on his heel and scampered off down the hall into the bowels of the TARDIS, leaving the others to follow along behind him at a more sedate pace.

As they walked, Jack turned to River. "So, he's regenerated, the TARDIS looks completely different, he's traveling with a married couple, he's trying to delete himself from the universe, and oh yeah, he's married. Tell me. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Well, for starters, River isn't just his wife. She's also mine and Rory's daughter," Amy informed him with a smirk. "I'm the Doctor's mother-in-law," she added, sounding both proud and a bit disgusted. Rory seemed to be quite used to this reaction, and put a hand on his wife's shoulder without comment.

Jack, meanwhile, was staring, his eyes flicking from Amy and Rory to River, stunned. "Okay, so obviously time travel is involved, because there's no way you two are old enough to have an adult daughter, but why doesn't she look anything like you? Either of you?"

"That's… a really long story," Rory said, faltering a bit.

"Well, as I recall, it's a bit of a long walk to the kitchen," Jack said encouragingly.

The other three shared a look, then Amy sighed. "Well, it all started when Rory and I left with the Doctor right after our wedding…"

0-0-0-0-0

Meanwhile, the Doctor was hurrying along in front of them, trying to put a bit of distance between himself and his companions, especially Jack. _Why _had the Captain suddenly turned up out of nowhere? He wasn't sure he could deal with this. He'd very carefully buried his memories of his last regeneration deep in his psyche for his own self-preservation, using the regeneration to push them aside. He'd had to, as his agony over the loss of Rose and of Donna had driven him mad in the last months of his tenth life. He- and the universe- simply could not afford for him to be so damaged, so he had buried those memories as he became a new man. It had been something of a relief, to not feel that constant knife in his chest over the loss of Donna, his best friend and Rose, the woman he… anyway. It had allowed him to befriend the Ponds, to let River into his hearts, and to let the three of them become his family. Now, Jack's very presence was dragging up all of those old memories that he'd been avoiding since he regenerated.

As he reached the kitchen, well ahead of the others, he shook himself and adjusted his bowtie. Whatever the reason, he couldn't let himself focus on the painful memories of his past. Jack wouldn't have come looking for him like this if he didn't have a reason, which meant that something was likely going wrong somewhere. He needed to focus on that. Solve the problem, that was the key. He stopped, placed his fingers on his own temples, and ruthlessly shoved his memories of Rose and of Donna back into the locked boxes in his mind where they belonged, ignoring the tiny voice in his head (that sounded suspiciously like Donna) that said he was being a coward. Instead, he substituted a recent memory of a picnic with River, a day spent with his wife that had been very nearly perfect.

He straightened up as he heard voices in the corridor outside, and reinstated his usual smiling façade. He could manage this, really. It was just a bit of a shock, he'd adjust.

0-0-0-0-0

"So, you've actually regenerated?" Jack asked River, stunned.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Twice. Came in rather handy," she added with a smirk.

"I can imagine," Jack muttered, his head whirling as he tried to make sense of what he'd just been told about the Doctor's wife. As if it wasn't odd enough that the Doctor was married, he'd gone and married someone just as complicated as he was.

As they reached the kitchen, he put the entire concept of River Song aside to mull over later. Right now, he had other things to worry about.

When all five of them were seated around the kitchen table, supplied with tea and biscuits, the Doctor met Jack's eyes squarely, and Jack sighed.

"Well, here goes. I was in a bar on some seedy planet, back of beyond, when I met this woman named Aleria. I never got the name of her species, but she could read the timelines, _very_ clearly. She didn't just get a vague idea about things, she could tell down to the minute when something was going to happen if it was fixed, and she could see all sorts of possibilities in the things that weren't." He paused, taking a deep breath and stealing himself for the difficult part of this story. "She'd seen her death, told me she was going to die that night, and I promised to protect her, but when we were walking back to my hotel that night, we were attacked by a couple of Tirraquan thugs. I didn't… I couldn't save her." He swallowed thickly, and felt Amy place a friendly hand on his shoulder. He covered it with his own and managed a weak smile, then continued.

"As she was dying, she had one last… vision, I guess you could say, it was really urgent. She was desperate to tell me, before she… Anyway, she wanted to warn me about someone, said…" Jack closed his eyes, and reached through his mind to call up Aleria's exact words. "She is coming, the child of Wolf and Storm, coming from so far… She will burn, burn from within and rise from the ashes like the Phoenix. She will rise from rage and despair to bring hope and light and joy, and she will bring the Firestorm."

Silence fell in the little kitchen as the little group pondered the strange words. Jack was only vaguely aware of Amy, Rory and River, his attention focused solely on the Doctor's reaction, which wasn't telling him much. The Doctor's face was closed off, absolutely no expression showing, and he sat perfectly still, like a full-color statue of himself. Jack put up with the silence for a few minutes, then his impatience and curiosity got the better of him.

"What's it mean, Doc, do you have any idea?"

The Doctor jerked out of his introspection at the sound of Jack's voice, and began asking questions. "When was this, when did it happen?"

"About a year ago, I started looking for you right away, but you're a hard man to find."

"And you're sure she wasn't just some sort of quack?" Rory asked.

Jack glared at the younger man. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Jack, you said you didn't catch her species' name, but what did she look like? What did you know about her?" the Doctor pushed, his eyes gaining an unsettling degree of intensity.

"She said her planet and people were destroyed by the Daleks during the Time War, and the only survivors were a handful of children sent off in escape pods, evacuees, like her. She was gorgeous, bright red skin, hair and eyes, but mostly humanoid."

The Doctor sighed. "Sounds like your friend was an Alberion, and if she was, then this prophecy of hers is probably accurate. The Daleks slaughtered the Alberions because they could read the timelines, and there wasn't anything we could do to save them… At least some of them survived," he said, running a hand over his face. "The problem is that it doesn't make sense, it's too cryptic. All that stuff about burning and phoenixes and Firestorms-"

"Yeah, Doc, but that wasn't the part that really got my attention. The part that really interested me was the bit where this mystery person is supposedly the 'child of Wolf and Storm.' Now, what could that mean, hmm? Is there something you want to share with the class?" Jack asked pointedly.

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "I don't know what you mean, Jack."

"Oh, come on, isn't it obvious? What do they call you, Doc? The nickname the Daleks gave you?"

Amy gasped in shock. "They used to call him the Oncoming Storm," she said. "You don't think… but… it can't be talking about the Doctor's daughter, can it? He said he doesn't have children."

"Don't be ridiculous, Amy, of course it's not talking about my daughter. I don't have a daughter. It must be something else, probably a metaphor, like all good cryptic prophesies.," the Doctor rambled, his hands fluttering about wildly.

"Yeah, but Doc… the Wolf. Who do we know that used to sometimes use that? You told me that Bad Wolf was Rose, that when she absorbed the Time Vortex, she scattered those words through time and space to…"

"Yes, Jack, I'm well aware of that," the Doctor interrupted testily. "But that's completely impossible."

"How so? You were in love with her, don't deny it, I could see it from the minute I first saw you two together," Jack countered, crossing his arms over his chest and meeting the Timelord's glare, which melted into a splutter at his words.

"I didn't- I never- We- It wasn't like that, Jack!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that in the entire time Rose was traveling with you -what was that, two years? More?- you never once slept with her?"

"No!" the Doctor burst out, flushing red in his embarrassment. He fluttered his hands around nervously for another moment, then adjusted his bowtie and calmed down. "Not that it's any of your business, Jack Harkness, but no. So whoever this 'prophesy' of yours refers to, it is not some secret child of mine and Rose's. Wolf and Storm must mean something different." With that, the Doctor got to his feet, rather gracelessly, Jack noted, and strode out of the room.

Jack sighed, and bounced up to follow him, noticing Amy and Rory turning to River with a million questions on their faces as he did so. "What are you doing, Doc?"

"I'm going to set the TARDIS to scan for any anomalies in the timelines that might account for this, and see if I can figure out what it means," he replied shortly. "Given how vague this all is, I'm not sure how much good it will do, but it's a start. Where's Amy and Rory, and River?" the Doctor said, breaking off and staring around.

"I think Amy and Rory are trying to get River to explain to them what's going on. They seemed pretty confused, not knowing who Rose was, or anything else we were talking about."

"Well, she'll tell them what she thinks they need to know," the Doctor muttered to himself, and mentally asked the TARDIS to shorten the walk for them. A moment later, the two men emerged into the console room, and the Doctor went straight for the console itself to start inputting instructions. For a long moment, Jack simply let the Doctor work in silence, not knowing what to say.

He couldn't help wondering just what was going on here. Why didn't the Doctor's companions have any idea who Rose was? Why wouldn't he have told them? Although, River had seemed to know… And why in the name of all that was holy had the Doctor never done anything about his feelings for Rose? He wished again, bitterly, that there had been time for him to actually talk to Rosie after the twenty-seven planets, before the Doctor had taken her back to the parallel world with her family and his clone. And if the child of Wolf and Storm wasn't Rose and the Doctor's child, then who could it possibly be?

Jack was just opening his mouth to demand a few answers when voices in the corridor announced that Amy, Rory, and River had followed them back out to the console room. He shut his mouth, knowing better than to interrogate the Doctor in front of an audience.

"Anything useful, Sweetie?" River asked as she walked up to the console and stood next to the Doctor, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

"Ah, not yet, just got it started. Should probably take a while. Jack!"

"Yes?"

"I'm assuming that you'll want to stick around for a while, at least until we've figured this out?" the Doctor asked, without looking at him.

"If that's alright," Jack replied, hardly able to believe his luck. He'd thought he might have to beg the Timelord to let him stay and help.

"Thought so, but you'll probably have to find a new bedroom. The TARDIS most likely deleted your old one. We had an incident a while back, and she had to delete just about everything to save power."

"That's the least of my worries," Jack said with a smirk, and he might have said more, but something happened that drove the entire conversation clean out of his head, and he suspected the others felt the same.

A blinding flash of golden light filled the TARDIS, causing all of them to cry out and fling an arm over their eyes. Distantly, Jack heard a soft singing that seemed to be coming from the light itself. It looked and sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place it.

As suddenly as the light had appeared, it vanished. A he blinked rapidly to clear his vision, he heard a distinctly undignified yelp of surprise from Rory's direction, and turned just in time to see the young man catching an unknown girl as she collapsed. Rory lowered the girl to the ground and looked up, stunned.

"Where the hell did she come from?" Amy burst out, staring.

The Doctor spluttered nonsensically for a long moment, apparently unable to put together a coherent sentence.

River walked around the console, staring at the girl like everyone else. "That- is a very good question, Mother."

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**Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	4. Chapter 3: Chaos, Panic and Disorder

**Sorry guys. I just moved to a new town and started a new job, so this chapter's been languishing half-done on my computer for a while now. The job came up totally out of the blue, and it's a great opportunity, but it does cut into my writing time. As such, I make no promises about when the next update will be, but I ask that you hang in there, because I'm not going to give up on this story.**

**I also apologize if this chapter isn't quite up to par; I was a bit desperate to get you guys an update, so I may not have done quite as good a job of editing as usual. Just send me a message if there's anything horrific, and I'll get it fixed.**

**Thank you to all of you who have been reading, following and favoriting this story, and thanks for your patience.**

Chapter Three: Chaos, Panic and Disorder

Pandemonium.

One minute, they were standing there, staring, but River's words seemed to bring them all out of their shock and they all started talking at once.

"What?!"

"How did she… where did she… Who the hell is she?"

"What?!"

"Doctor, what's going on?"

"_What?!"_

"OI!"

At Amy's shout, the other four stopped babbling and silence reigned in the TARDIS. Amy glared at them all, and began scolding them, her accent thickening in her annoyance. "Look, whoever she is, she's unconscious, and she might be really hurt. All that shouting isn't going to help us figure out who she is, so I say we take her to the med bay and see if she's okay. And then you can run some scans on her and see what you find out," Amy added when the Doctor opened his mouth to process.

The Doctor sighed. "Right you are, Pond. Captain, if you would?" he said, gesturing to the girl on the floor, then striding out of the console room, no doubt heading for the infirmary.

"Sure, Doc," Jack muttered, a bit annoyed that the Doctor would just storm off without waiting for a response. He strode forward to pick up the girl, but stopped when Rory held out his hand.

"Hold on, let me check if it's safe to move her. I'm a nurse," he added in response to Jack's raised eyebrow.

Satisfied, Jack stepped back a bit, and decided to look the girl over while Rory checked her vitals.

She was young, he guessed about sixteen or seventeen, assuming she was human. She was a bit tall for a teenage girl, and remarkably skinny, though not in an unhealthy sort of way, and rather pretty, wearing little or no makeup. Her mid-brown hair was pulled back into a sensible ponytail, and seemed to reach just below her shoulders, and there was something familiar about her features, though he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Jack almost felt like he ought to know her, though he was quite sure he'd never seen her before in his life.

The strange girl was dressed fairly simply, in clothing that would have been right at home on Earth in the early 21st century. She wore simple, faded blue jeans, a dark grey t-shirt saying "I aim to misbehave" (Jack smirked inwardly at the reference), a TARDIS blue zip-up hoodie that was currently unzipped, and matching blue Chucks.

Jack absorbed all of this in just a few seconds, as Rory leaned over to take the girl's pulse. The young man frowned suddenly, and moved his hand over her heart, looking confused.

"What is it, Rory?" Amy asked her husband.

"I'm not sure… There's something strange about her heartbeat, almost like… Right. I think we'd better get her to the infirmary; it should be safe to move her. Jack?" Rory gestured to him and moved back, letting Jack step forward and kneel to pick up the girl to carry her to the infirmary. However, as he stood with her in his arms, Amy suddenly gasped in shock and pointed.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"Look! Look at the back of her hoodie! River, tell me this isn't what I think it is," Amy babbled.

"What is it, Amy?" Jack asked again, a bit exasperated.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Her hoodie's not just plain blue in the back, it's got this silver design, and maybe it's just me, but it looks like Gallifreyan!"

That got River's attention immediately, and she hurried around to crouch down and get a look at the girl's jacket. A split second later, she paled and straightened up.

"You're right. That is Gallifreyan, and it says Stormwolf, or Stormcub, I can't quite tell from this angle." River shook herself slightly. "Dad, you said there was something odd about her heartbeat, right?"

"Yes…" Rory trailed off. "But, she can't be… that's impossible, River!"

River gave her father a look, then reached over and placed a hand on the right side of the girl's chest. "Impossible or not, she's got two hearts. Come on, you lot, the Doctor needs to know this five minutes ago, and we need to get her to the infirmary." She turned on her heel and strode down the hall again, her posture stiff.

Jack hurried after her with the strange, two-hearted girl held tight in his arms and Amy and Rory trailing along in his wake. "River, how could this be possible? She's obviously a Timelord, or at least part Timelord, but the Doctor swears he's the only one left, and he also distinctly said that he didn't have any children. Who is she?"

"Rule one: the Doctor lies," River said stiffly. "And as to who she is, your guess is as good as mine."

"But, wait, River, you know a lot about the Doctor's future, your timelines are all back to front. Surely you have some idea what's going on? I know you can't tell us, but, you must know something," Amy pleaded with her daughter.

"Time can be rewritten, Mother, or it could just be one of those rare moments when the Doctor and I actually are in sync."

"How are we going to know?" Jack asked.

"I intend to ask my husband," River stated firmly, and pushed open the infirmary doors. Jack followed her inside and went straight for the exam bed, where he gently laid the girl down, then joined the other three in staring at the Doctor, waiting for answers.

After a tense moment in which the only sound was Rory moving to check on the girl, Jack finally got tired of the silence and spoke.

"So, Doc, this girl. Is there any particular reason why she's got two hearts and Gallifreyan writing on the back of her hoodie?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"What?!" the Doctor yelped, and scrambled gracelessly over to the bed, shoving Rory out of the way with one hand and pulling out his sonic screwdriver with the other. Jack noted dimly that the Doctor seemed to have replaced his sonic as well as his face and console room as the Timelord quickly scanned the girl, muttering to himself in a language Jack couldn't understand. He assumed it was Gallifreyan, and that it was rather impolite, especially since River smirked a moment later and murmured, "Language, sweetie."

The Doctor finished his scan and held the sonic up to his eyes to check the results, then blurted out, "That's not possible!"

"What's not possible, Doc?" Jack asked, but the Doctor ignored him, choosing instead to scramble around the infirmary, frantically bouncing from one machine to another, running all sorts of scans on the unconscious girl. He even drew blood and began examining that as well, muttering to himself and completely ignoring everyone else.

Finally, Amy seemed to have had enough.

"Doctor!" she yelled, reaching out and grabbing his shoulders so that he was forced to stop his frantic circuit around the room.

"Not now, Pond," he said roughly, and tried to bat her hands away. However, the redhead was clearly having none of that.

"No, Doctor, tell us what's going on. Now," she said sternly, glaring at the Doctor, and Jack felt his respect for the girl increase several notches. There weren't many people who could stare the Doctor down like this, at least not when Jack knew him.

The Doctor's shoulders slumped slightly, defeated. "Just let me get this genetic analysis running, Pond," he said, and she released him, apparently satisfied. He stepped over to one of the machines and placed a vial of the girl's blood in a small slot, then pushed a few buttons. As the device whirred to life, the Doctor sighed and turned to face his companions.

"The scan I just did a minute ago said that this girl is part Timelord, specifically fifty-eight point four percent Gallifreyan, forty percent human, and the rest unidentified," he said, running his hand over his face. "She's also covered in Void stuff, and seems to be saturated with Huon particles, like Donna was when she came to the TARDIS, except that with this girl, they seem to be a part of her."

"So, who is she?" River asked, after a beat, her eyes stony.

The Doctor seemed to ignore her question. "River, that writing on her jacket, what did it say?" he asked, not meeting his wife's eyes.

River rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It was the word for storm laid over the top of the word for young wolf, as in cub. Now, who is she?" she asked again, more insistently this time.

"Well, I have a theory, but I won't know for sure until the scans finish running or she wakes up," the Doctor said evasively, turning his head to look at the strange girl on the exam bed.

"Care to share your theory with the class then, Doc?" Jack asked pointedly.

"No, Jack, I don't. You'll just have to wait until I know for certain."

"Looks like you don't have long to wait," Rory spoke up suddenly, gesturing at the girl. She was shifting slightly, and her eyelids fluttered. "She's waking up."

0-0-0-0-0

Emma swan slowly back to consciousness, her first awareness being of a pounding headache._ What happened? _She wondered, and began trying to piece together the moments before she'd lost consciousness. For a moment, nothing registered, then it all came flooding back at once. The invasion, Kristi Bennett, being shot at, and the flash of gold light, whatever that was. She moaned slightly as a jerk of her head caused the pain to spike, then forced herself to focus. Someone must have come and gotten her out of the street, because she was lying on something softish, and she could hear the TARDIS humming softly.

Wait… humming? The TARDIS didn't hum softly in her ears, she sang softly in her mind. She could hear the TARDIS, but something was wrong with her connection to the ship.

A moment later, she realized that there were people in the room with her, she could hear them breathing. At first, she assumed they must be her family, but then she realized that she didn't have a telepathic connection with any of the five other people in the room, though she could sense two of their minds pretty clearly. One of them was radiating barely controlled panic, and the other was… guarded. The panicked one felt almost familiar, somehow, but she had no idea how. Neither of those two telepathic minds belonged to her family. She also noticed another mental touch, much fainter, like a whisper at the back of her mind that seemed to somehow be connected to the faint feeling of nausea in her stomach.

Emma sighed to herself. Something was definitely wrong here, and now she needed to find out what. She steeled herself, and opened her eyes.

She seemed to be in a small infirmary, one that was equipped with technology that was far beyond 21st century Earth, including one gadget that Emma had only ever seen once outside of the TARDIS. She was also being stared at by five people, just as she had thought. There were three men and two women; a tall, dark, devastatingly handsome man with piercing blue eyes, a shorter man with an impressive Roman nose and quiet good looks who was holding hands with a stunning redheaded woman, a middle-aged woman with out-of-control curly hair, and geeky young man whose bright green eyes were far too old for his face.

"Where-" she croaked, her throat dry.

The Nose let go of the redhead's hand to reach for a glass that was conveniently placed on a table to the side, and stepped forward to hand it to her. "Take it easy," he cautioned her gently. He spoke with an British accent, and his and the redhead's clothes seemed to be from 21st century Earth. The older woman was wearing tan leather trousers and a white jacket that didn't stand out as being from any particular time period, the tall-dark-and-handsome fellow was dressed like an RAF pilot from WWII, and the geek was wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie. Emma felt her hearts beginning to beat faster for some reason she couldn't explain as she took in the strange myriad of outfits, and forced herself to calm down and take the glass of water the Nose was still holding out to her, a small frown on his face.

The cool water soothed her throat, and after she'd drained the glass, she tried again to speak. "Where am I?"

The older woman regarded her with a soft look that was totally at odds with the suspiciousness Emma sensed from her mind. "It's all right, dear, you're on the TARDIS, you're safe."

Emma frowned, her hearts pounding. "No, I'm not," she retorted, and noted the surprise that appeared on all five of the faces watching her. "This is not the TARDIS, I _know_ the TARDIS. I was born on the TARDIS, and I'm connected to her, just like my parents. This can't be the TARDIS." She paused, casting a wary gaze over her audience. "Who are you people anyway? How do you even know that word?"

Suddenly, the geeky one shifted and began to speak. "Right, I'm the Doctor-"

Emma cut him off. "Not possible," she said firmly, even as she felt her face pale.

He looked offended. "I am the Doctor, and you're on my TARDIS."

"No, I know exactly what the Doctor looks like, and he doesn't look like you. Trust me, I see him every day. Try again, mate," said coldly.

The geek's face sank into a rather sulky pout. "I'm the Doctor, whether you believe me or not. These are my friends, River Song, Amy and Rory Pond, and Jack Harkness. You're in the infirmary on my TARDIS… What?" he asked, trailing off as Emma stared at him, shocked.

Jack Harkness. It was a name that had been featured in many a bedtime story when she was just a kid, and one that she'd continued to hear as she hit the teen years. He was one of her parents' very best friends, and she had always loved the tales of the flirty con-man-turned-hero who'd been made immortal by the Bad Wolf. She'd often wished she could meet him, and she knew that her parents, her Mum particularly, missed him a great deal.

If Jack Harkness was here, with a geeky-looking bloke who called himself the Doctor, then that could mean only one thing: She had somehow crossed between universes. _But that's supposed to be impossible… _Emma thought. Some part of her rejected the idea out of hand, but she decided to test her theory. She called up every story of the Captain that her mother had ever told her, and picked out a good one.

"Alright, then, if you are the Doctor, and he is Jack Harkness, then answer me this. When you all met gas-mask zombies during the London Blitz, what was the question they were all asking, over and over?"

"Are you my Mummy?" the two men chorused, then gave each other a sheepish look, as though embarrassed to have spoken in unison.

Well, there it was. Proof. She was in the universe that her parents were from, with no idea how she'd gotten there, and no idea how to get back. _Well, isn't that just wizard,_ she thought, stealing one of her father's favorite lines.

"Doctor…" she murmured, still struggling to wrap her head around the notion. _He must have regenerated, _she thought fuzzily. A moment later, she was favored with the Doctor's grin.

"Yes, dear, that's right. I'm the Doctor. Now, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

"And have we met?" Jack asked, giving her an odd look, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Emma sighed. "No, we've never met, but I've heard storied about you both my entire life. You know my parents rather well, I think, and I'm often told that I look like them." She paused, steeling herself, and then continued. "My name is Emma Tyler."

Jack, the Doctor, and the woman called River all stared at her, the two men in stunned disbelief, and the woman with just a hint of… was that resentment?

"Tyler? Your last name is Tyler, and you're part Timelord?" Jack asked. "Doc, I thought you said that-"

"I did! And… I didn't! I never… we never… I told you it wasn't like that, Jack!" the Doctor spluttered.

"Rule one?" River commented, her voice deadly soft.

"Rule one is don't wander off," Emma stated firmly, drawing attention back to her. Clearly, there was some sort of confusion about who she was, confusion she'd better clear up before this lot exploded. "My mother is Rose Tyler, as I'm sure you've figured out, judging by your faces, and my father is the Doctor, yes, but not this Doctor. My Dad was created by a human/Timelord biological metacrisis with a woman called-"

"Donna Noble," River finished for her, a look of relief crossing her features.

"Yeah," Emma trailed off, a bit surprised that River knew that. She turned to face the Doctor, opening her mouth to say something, but stopped dead at the look on his face, all coherent thought flying out of her head. There were so many emotions tracking through those ancient eyes that Emma had no idea what to say. She continued to stare, some small part of her brain cataloguing what she saw in his face; confusion, jealousy, disbelief, enlightenment, joy, relief… and fear. Somehow, that frantic progression of emotion on his face was what finally convinced her that this was really happening. With that realization came panic. How the hell was she supposed to get home?

A moment later, the Doctor's quiet voice cut into her thoughts. "That is not possible, Emma Tyler. You cannot be their daughter, because they are locked in a parallel world, and there is no way to cross the Void. It's completely impossible."

Emma raised one eyebrow in an unconscious gesture learned from her Dad. "Really? Isn't that what you told my mother the first time she was trapped there? Seems to me she found a way."

Jack chuckled, amused. "She's got you there, Doc." He sobered when both Emma and the Doctor glared at him, and turned back to face his oldest friend. "Seriously, Doc, it's obvious. She's definitely their daughter, look at her. She's got Rose's face, and your last self's eyes. That's why she looked so familiar to me, it's not because I've met her, but because she looks so much like her parents." Jack paused, meeting Emma's eyes with a smile. "I don't know how you got here, kid, but I am glad to meet you. Once the Doc's through interrogating you, we should catch up, I'd love to hear what your parents have been up to."

Emma grinned. "Sure thing, Captain, as long as you tell me just what happened on Terralia VII that my father is so adamant that I never hear about."

Jack burst out laughing as the Doctor turned a fascinating shade of red.

"No, no, absolutely not. I forbid that story to be told. I forbid it," The Doctor spluttered, apparently trying to sound impressive. It only made Jack laugh harder, and Emma raised an eyebrow.

"That bad, huh?" she smirked.

"You will never know," the Doctor informed her sternly. Well he tried to, but the effect was rather ruined by the way he kept fluttering his hands and fiddling with his bowtie.

Emma chuckled, and Jack gave her a look that said "I'll tell you later," just as clearly as if he'd shouted it in her ear. She winked back at him when the Doctor wasn't looking, and Jack had to fight down another burst of laughter. It took a few minutes, but the three of them finally calmed down enough to continue the interview.

"So, Emma, you're from a different universe," Amy began, with the air of one trying very hard to redirect a conversation. "How did you get here?"

Emma groaned, her brief humor vanishing. "I have no idea," she admitted. "One minute I was running down the street, then I woke up in your infirmary."

"But what happened, from your point of view, what physically happened?" the Doctor asked, peering into her face with that disconcerting intensity of his.

Emma sighed. "I suppose I'd better start from the beginning, but it's a bit of a long story. Can we all go someplace else? Someplace with tea, perhaps? I think my head could do with a super-heated infusion of free radicals and tannin," she said, and the Doctor blinked at her, looking surprised. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Yes, right, the kitchen. Off we go," the Doctor turned around with a flourish and started walking out of the room, but Rory reached out a hand to stop him.

"Wait, Doctor, she just woke up. Shouldn't she rest for a while? You know, before she goes hiking around the enormous inter-dimensional ship?"

"She's fine, Rory, she's got superior Timelord biology. Probably best not to go take on an entire Dalek fleet right now, but she can handle a walk to the kitchen," the Doctor retorted.

"She's only part Timelord, though, so shouldn't she-"

"She's gonna slap you if you keep calling her 'she,'" Emma interrupted, glaring at the two men. "As it happens though, the Doctor's right. I'm okay." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her sonic pen, gave herself a quick scan, then read the results. "There, see? Apart from suddenly being covered in Void stuff, I'm just the same as I was at dinner, before all the fuss started. Can we go now?" She hopped off the medical bed and headed for the door, then stopped when she realized they were all staring at her. "Oh, come on, what now?"

"You have a sonic screwdriver," Rory said, sounding stunned.

"No, I have a sonic pen. Made it when I was twelve. I needed to be able to carry it around at school without it getting noticed, so I made it a pen instead. Attracts less attention that way."

"You made it when you were twelve?" Rory asked, a bit incredulous.

Emma grinned. "Oh, didn't I mention? I'm brilliant."

Jack burst out laughing at how similar she sounded to the Doctor, while the Timelord himself made a face and fixed his bowtie.

"I for one would like to hear Miss Emma's story, so shall we go already?"

It took nearly ten minutes for them to get Jack calmed down, but once they did, the oddly-assorted group retired to the kitchen for the second time in less than three hours, awaiting tea and explanations. When Emma had taken a long sip of her beverage, she sighed and looked up at the expectant faces before her.

"Well, there isn't really much to tell. My family was just sitting around the dinner table, like any other night, when Mum and Dad's mobiles rang, one after the other. It was Torchwood, calling them in to deal with this enormous ship that suddenly appeared in orbit."

"Wait, hold on, your parents work for Torchwood?" Jack interrupted, stunned.

"Yeah, Dad runs the R&D department, and Mum's in charge of training new agents. That's officially, though. Unofficially, whenever they find themselves in a situation they can't handle, they call in Mum and Dad. Course, with a full-on invasion like this turned out to be, it's all hands on deck anyway."

"So, you live on Earth? House, doors, carpets, all that domestic stuff? But they have a TARDIS, why would they…"

Emma smirked at the doctor as she cut him off. "Well, it started off as they didn't want to bounce through time and space with an infant, and ended as they were the most valuable and famous members of Torchwood. The whole planet would have been in an uproar if they'd left, plus Gran would never have forgiven them if she didn't get to watch her grandchildren grow up." Emma smiled fondly as memories of her Gran swept over her, then shook it off.

"Grandchildren? So, do you have siblings?" Jack asked.

"Yes, but let's not get off topic, hmm? Anyway, Dad said that Torchwood couldn't even communicate with this alien ship, so he and Mum were going in to see if the TARDIS's translation circuits could help. Not long after that, the invasion started, and there were insectoid aliens marching down every other street. I'd gone out of the house to get this kid back to her parents, and I didn't get back soon enough. They came around the corner and fired at me, and the next thing I knew, all I could see was gold, my head felt very strange, and I woke up in your infirmary. That's about all I can tell you. So, any idea how I got here?" she asked hopefully, looking up at the Doctor.

"Ah, no. Not actually, not even the faintest idea," the Doctor replied, then sobered. "Emma, without having any idea how you got here, I have no idea how to get you back to your parents. The walls are supposed to be closed, and, well, I'll do everything in my power to help you get home, but it may be impossible."

Much to the Doctor's obvious surprise, Emma snorted. "Define 'impossible,'" she said with a smirk.

"What- What do you mean?" he spluttered, apparently flummoxed by her reaction.

"Well, it's just that every time my Dad says something's impossible, it usually ends up happening, and since you two used to be the same person, I'm guessing it's the same with you." When the Doctor continued to splutter, she rolled her eyes and said, "To put it another way, 'you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.' Besides, I'm a Tyler. We don't believe in impossible."

Jack smiled fondly. "Well, kid, if there was any doubt left that you're Rosie's daughter, you just settled it, right Doc?"

The Doctor smiled as well, finally acknowledging Emma's dramatic resemblance to Rose. "Well, Emma, you even being here is impossible, so maybe we can find a way. In the meantime, welcome aboard. Ponds, can you help her find a room?"

"Sure, Doctor," Amy replied. "Just as soon as you tell us who the hell this Rose is, what a metacrisis is, and just in general what the hell is going on," she demanded, glaring at the Doctor. Emma grinned at the sight of the Timelord wilting under the redhead's gaze.

River chuckled. "Why don't you and Jack explain, sweetie," she said, putting her teacup down with a soft clink. "I can find Emma a room."

"Right," the Doctor said, clearly not happy with the situation or the way he'd been out-maneuvered by the two women.

Emma grinned and took the hint, rising to her feet and following River out the door, stopping briefly to promise Jack achance to update him on her parents' lives. As River led her down the hall, Emma decided toask the question that had been burning in her head since she'd realized she'd be on this TARDIS for a while.

"So, River, does this TARDIS have an ice rink?"

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**Is it just me, or does our girl have a one track mind? **

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**


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